Re: MHK, OOA!! Oh, nooooooooooooooo...!!


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Posted by tleemay on March 15, 2001 at 14:30:07:

In Reply to: Re: MHK, OOA!! Oh, nooooooooooooooo...!! posted by AADIVER on March 15, 2001 at 12:38:07:

Helooooo Frank -

The OOA drill that's usually done is like this;

A diver comes right towards (me) and reaches for my
primary. It's never assumed the oncoming diver is
pulling a drill or not, that train of thought is
never even leaves the roundhouse.

I see the enroute diver and respond by removing the
primary from my mouth tilting my head forward
deploying the hose and thrusting the 2nd stage
towards the reaching diver while purging the reg.
Drill or not, the diver will take the reg and
start to breathe it. During this time I duck
my chin down and slip my backup in my mouth, check
the diver I'm assisting and either abort the dive
if it was a real OOA, or receive the OK sign and
re-stow the long hose after exchanging the backup
for the primary in my mouth... and then continue on
with the dive.

I have had this drill pulled on me so many times
(twice last Sunday alone) that it's second nature
to do.

I said at the front of this writing that this is
the way it's _usually_ done. I have had a team
member grab my fins or tank from behind inside
a wreck pulling a drill. Another time we had one
diver around us who thought we were playing some
kind of game pull an OOA drill. He wasn't even a
member of our team, or DIR for that matter. He
though it was some kind of silly game and he
wanted to 'play'.

Your point about how agencies teach how to handle
the OOA situations is well taken.

Recently I explained to someone how our OOA drills
work, he asked me if I have actually had an OOA
diver look to me for help. The answer is, yes.
Both times they reached for my primary. Once it
was my primary second stage that was pulled from
my lips, the other time the diver grabbed my
primary hose and jerked the reg from my mouth
from nehind. In both of those cases, the diver
did not do what they were trained to do by the
mainstream agencies, that is give the OOA signal
and look for the 'octo'. In the real world from
my experience, a panicked diver is seeking the
reg they know works, and that's the one on my
mouth. It's visable and they see it working -
they want it and they will take it. You being the
non-stressed diver donating the alt source have
enough wits about you and the comfort knowing you
can handle such a situation - because you have been
regularly practicing it with your buddy and other
team members on handling OOA instances.



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